In the ER: How to Keep Your Toddler Calm and Entertained

Updated: January 29, 2015

In addition to being frightening for everyone involved, an emergency-room visit might mean you're in for a loooong wait. Stay calm and keep your critter content with these six smart ideas for passing time in the ER.

Headed to the emergency room? With any luck, your little one will be taken to see a doctor or nurse as soon as you arrive. Your immediate job in that case is to be CCO (chief comforting officer) in the ER. But if your pint-size patient’s illness or injury isn’t serious (thank goodness for that), get cozy in those ER waiting-room chairs — it may be a while before it’s your turn. And that wait can seem endless to a sick or hurt toddler (not to mention his concerned mommy). To the rescue: this bag of tricks (on top of all your hugs, kisses, and soothing words) that’ll take your toddler to a happier place and make the minutes (almost) fly by.

Tell a Tale Together

Young children often prefer a homegrown adventure (especially if they’re the main character) to books. But instead of telling a tale all on your own, enlist your older toddler’s or preschooler’s help in creating one with you. You start with a sentence (“Once upon a time, there was a happy little boy named Caleb…”), and then it’s your little storyteller’s turn to add a line. Switch off adding the next events. Be prepared to get his creative juices flowing with questions (“What does Caleb like to do best?”) to spur the action in the story. You can even incorporate your little one’s ailment into the narrative (“Caleb rolled out of bed and bumped his head, but he was very brave”), if it’s not too worrisome.

Let Your Fingers Do the Talking

Toddler songs with “talking” fingers, as in “Where Is Thumbkin?” may be up your tyke’s alley, but on the other hand, finger plays that involve gentle tickling may produce some actual giggles. Try “This Little Piggy” (keep those “wee wee wees” on the soft side so you don’t disturb the others waiting along with you) or “Hickory Dickory Dock” (tickle your child up and down his belly with your fingers, pretending to be the mouse in the clock). Here’s another rhyme with tickling: "Round and round the garden, goes the teddy bear." (Trace a circle with your fingers on your child’s belly or hand.) "One step, two steps, three steps." (Walk your fingers up your child’s arm while counting the steps.) “Tickle under there!” (Tickle under your toddler’s chin.) Now give your tot a turn to tickle you.

Let the Games Begin

No, ER waiting rooms aren’t chock-full of kid-friendly stuff (and you may have forgotten to pack the lovey and books in your mad dash to get to the hospital). So perhaps you can play 20 questions — the kiddie version. Have your child envision something and you do the questioning: “Can you eat it? Is it something you play with? Is it red?” With an older toddler, help your child guess the contents of Mommy’s diaper bag, and pull out the item (a toy, a hair clip) when he guesses right. Or try a tried-and-true game of I spy (“I spy a yellow chair”), and let him look for the items you’ve spotted around the waiting room.

Play Doctor

Engage an older toddler or preschooler by talking about what the doctor or nurse will do once you’re called into the exam room. You can ask, “Is she going to listen to your heartbeat?” “Is she going to ask to look at your boo-boo?” A chat on what to expect when he meets the doctor or nurse may up the chances that it’ll go well. A younger child may be entertained by simply pointing at and identifying body parts with you: “This is Caleb’s nose. Where’s Mommy’s nose?”

Focus on Favorite Things

Though you may be confined to the waiting room in the ER, you can still take your tot on a virtual vacation. Talk to your child about his favorite neighborhood playground or destination and what he loves to do there (“You love swinging on the swings.” “Remember when we went on the teacup ride?”). Or ask him to picture Grandma’s house, his pet kitty, or his train set. Your soothing voice and these reassuring images should help your pint-sized patient keep his patience.

Count It Out

Entertaining and distracting, number games can capture your critter’s attention for a little while, even if he can’t count higher than ten. One game to try: Tap your hand on your leg or your foot on the floor to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or another of your child’s favorite songs and have him count how many taps are in each line. Then switch off: Have him tap out the words in his top tunes and you do the counting. More things to count: the tiles in the floor or on the ceiling, the panes in the window, the words on those signs…you get the idea.